Pa. House votes against Wolf moratorium on death penalty
A divided Pennsylvania House is weighing in against Governor Tom Wolf’s death penalty moratorium in the form of a nonbinding resolution.The House voted 119-to-71 Wednesday in favor of a Republican-penned resolution that condemned the Democrat’s policy and urged him to reverse it.
The resolution also says governors cannot nullify a duly enacted law, reverse a legal verdict or substitute their own judgment based on their own personal disapproval with the state’s legislative and legal processes.
Wolf enacted the moratorium in February, not long after taking office, calling the state’s capital punishment system error-prone and expensive.
He said he plans to issue reprieves at least until he can review an upcoming report by a legislative commission examining the death penalty. So far he’s issued three such reprieves.
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